Related

Madonna is revealing for the first time that she was raped at knifepoint when she first arrived in New York.

The former Material Girl — now possibly the world’s most famous woman — in a bluntly honest essay for Harper’s Bazaar tells of the anguish of her early days in New York — and that horrific night.

“New York wasn’t everything I thought it would be,” the 55-year-old icon writes. “It did not welcome me with open arms. The first year, I was held up at gunpoint. Raped on the roof of a building I was dragged up to with a knife in my back.”

Not only was she brutally raped, the Big Apple of the late 1970s and early ‘80s was a wild, lawless place racking up 2,200 homicides a year.

“I had my apartment broken into three times. I don’t know why; I had nothing of value after they took my radio the first time,” Madonna writes. “I was defiant. Hell-bent on surviving. On making it. But it was hard and it was lonely, and I had to dare myself every day to keep going.”

She says: “If I can’t be daring in my work or the way I live my life, then I don’t really see the point of being on this planet.” In the wide-ranging essay, the twice-married pop provocateur also reveals that as a teenager growing up in Detroit, she was seen as an oddball.

“Most people thought I was strange. I didn’t have many friends; I might not have had any friends. But it all turned out good in the end, because when you aren’t popular and you don’t have a social life, it gives you more time to focus on your future.”

But the singer admits the wild persona she embraced and flaunted is not her anymore. The mother-of-four said it was impossible to continue.

“When you’re 25, it’s a little bit easier to be daring, especially if you are a pop star, because eccentric behavior is expected from you,” she writes.

More recently, the singer came under fire when she adopted her son David from desperately poor Malawi. Madonna called the attacks the “low point” in her life.

“I didn’t know that trying to adopt a child was going to land me in another s---storm,” she said. “But it did. I was accused of kidnapping, child trafficking, using my celebrity muscle to jump ahead in the line, bribing government officials, witchcraft, you name it. (People thought) certainly I had done something illegal!

“This was an eye-opening experience,” she says.

“I could get my head around people giving me a hard time for simulating masturbation onstage or publishing my Sex book, even kissing Britney Spears at an awards show, but trying to save a child’s life was not something I thought I would be punished for.”

But Madonna again found a silver lining in the firestorm.

“One of the many things I learned from all of this: If you aren’t willing to fight for what you believe in, then don’t even enter the ring.”

Comments

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.